


Change

by Carry_on_Wayward_Daughter



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-13 19:28:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12990933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carry_on_Wayward_Daughter/pseuds/Carry_on_Wayward_Daughter
Summary: Taako doesn't get Merle's fascination with the beach





	Change

Of course Magnus is the first of them to go out, but it’s the years preceding that that get to Taako.

He’s surrounded by the people he’s called family for the past hundred and thirteen years, and, in most of that time, they hadn’t changed.

It’s a gloomy day when he first notices it, and it’s like a punch to the gut. Magnus’ hair is thinner than it used to be, his sideburns not quite so full, though much better kept. There’s gray streaked through, just a bit, and there’s the beginnings of crow’s feet at his eyes, wrinkles forming due to years of laughter and smiles.

Angus stays with him, playing with pups too small to begin their training, and studying when he’s not helping Magnus. He’s been all but adopted by the entirety of the IPRE crew, save for Davenport, and Kravitz by extension. The boy is getting taller, and by sixteen, he’s as tall as Taako himself, almost as tall as Magnus.

Lucretia is there, too, of course, visiting when she’s not running the Bureau of Benevolence. She keeps her hair much shorter now than she ever did in her time on the Star Blaster, and there’s a certain weariness to her shoulders that has him worried, though he won’t admit it.

Gods, he loved Lucretia, but how was he supposed to forgive her?

Looking at her now, it’s hard not to. Over a hundred years, and she looks closer to it than any of them.

The others don’t see it, or maybe they choose not to, not with everything that’s happened, but he can’t ignore it.

He sees the tremble in her hands when she picks up a quill.

He watches as Magnus forgets where he put a tool that he just had in his hand.

He sees Angus grow with every second that passes, and his beautiful magic boy isn’t a boy anymore.

They’re all getting older, and this just isn’t something he’s used to.

Kravitz holds his hand when he talks about it, a soft, understanding look on in his face, and he hates it. He hates the vulnerability he feels, and cracks a joke, something about how he’ll be the last to go because he’s got a few more dates with Death. He can’t remember.

He _will_ be the last of them to go, won’t he?

Even Merle and Davenport will die before him, and how many of Ango’s descendents will see their graves before he finally bites the dust?

He wants so bad to distance himself from them all and just chill in the astral plane with his undead family. He actually makes it to day twelve before Lup calls him out on it. He suggested having dinner with the Raven Queen, and, apparently, he never gies out of his way to interact with his mother-in-law. Damn.

Lup drags him back to the physical world for the family barbecue at Chesney’s, and though he’s dreading it, paranoid over the changes two weeks could have cast over his family, he enjoys himself.

Merle is there, obviously, and his children, Mavis and Mookie. Gods, they’re getting so big. Lucretia sits at the bar with Lord Artemis Stirling and laughs at something Merle says. Lup and Barry are playing volley ball with Carey and Killian, and Magnus and Angus are tossing a fantasy frisbee back and forth. Davenport is windsurfing, and Taako actually decides to pick it up again.

He has a good time, despite himself, and leans on Kravitz around the bonfire that night.

Angus, Mavis and Mookie are all asleep, leaning against an equally conked out Magnus,  and Taako uses mage hand to pull a blanket over them.

Barry and Lup hold hands right next to the two of them, and Lup smiles at him. He just smiles and shakes his head, leaning his head back onto Kravitz’s shoulder.

Lucretia left a whole ago, Carey and Killian in tow. Stirling returned to Neverwinter before the sun even began to set, and Davenport had retired to his boat out in the harbor.

Merle walks over and scoops Mookie up and gently shakes Mavis awake. The dwarf girl sits up and rubs her eyes before taking his hand and walking back to their house. Magnus wakes up immediately, says goodnight to the four of them, and throws a still solidly sleeping Angus over his shoulder and follows Merle, Johann close on his heels.

And then the four of them are alone, sitting around the fire while the moon reflects clearly on the sea.

“Merle was right, huh, bro?”

Taako looks over at Lup, confused. She’s gripping Barry’s hand right and looking up at the stars, a smile on her face.

“About what? Because any situation in which Merle is right about something is _not_ one I wanna be in.”

She laughs and shakes her head.

“He was right about the beach never being the same.”

He snorts.

“Honestly, I don’t get the appeal. I mean, it’s nice and all, but it’s just sand and water.” _Both just slip through your fingers, don’t they?_

Lup looks over his head at that, an odd look on her face, and he feels Kravitz nod once before the reapers both stand and Taako is dislodged from his seat. Krav pulls him to his feet and kisses the top of his head before Lup grabs his hand and pulls him away from the light of the fire and towards the edge of the water.

The waves are crashing on the sandy shore, and though this is nothing like the astral plane, he gets that same feeling he does when he looks out on the sea of souls, when he looks out at all those who have seen the world and lived their lives, some lives shorter than most, shorter than they should be.

“Did you ever think we’d make it to this point?”

He doesn’t say anything at first, and waits a moment, just looks out at the, heh, at the two moons shining down on the water.

“What do you mean?” he asks finally, carefully keeping his tone neutral.

“I mean… when we started out, when we first joined the Institute. Did you ever think we’d make it _here_?”

“Did I think we’d be chased by a vore god for a hundred years only to defeat it with the power of love and sweet tricks? Because, yeah, no, I _deffo_  called that one decades ago.”

She shoves him and laughs as he stumbles into the water and swears at how cold it is.

“Cute, Lulu, real cute,” he quips snappishly, the reaches down to flick water at her. 

She curses, then kicks water back up at him, and, with just a few moves, it’s a full on water fight between the twins and doesn’t end until Lup lunges at him and they both are driven down into the shallow water. 

The two laugh and just lay there, half submerged in water, half lying on the sandy beach, water cascading over their waists as they just lay under the stars, hands clasped tightly.

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”

“My eyes?” he responds jokingly and bats his lashes at her.

“The _stars_ , asshole,” she laughs. She looks back up at the sky, eyes wide. “It’s weird to think that we, you know, _came_  from out there.”

“Buncha aliens just chilling with the natives,” he jokes.

“ _Seriously,_  Koko, so much has changed. Before, it was just us, passed around, swindling fools, cooking and fighting. Then, there were seven of us. When we joined the Institute, we had no idea just how _much_  our lives were going to change.”

“I know, Lu, I was there.”

“Just… let me get through this?” 

She looks at him, eyes earnest and he nods, nervous now.

“We met Mags, and Dav, and Merle, Davenport… Barry. Do you–” she laughs, then continues, “do you remember, when we first met Magnus?”

“Jesus, how could I _forget_?”

“He was fighting some asshole–”

“– and the dude made the mistake of grabbing you–”

“– _You_  fucking lost it–”

“– What was I _supposed_ to do–”

“– _huge_  fucking magic missile–”

“– I thought I was going to lose you.”

Silence.

He doesn’t realize he’s crying until Lup’s eyes meet his, soft and understanding and he hand tightens around his. He feels a sob catch in his throat and she pulls him closer, holding him tight.

“I thought I lost you,” he whispers into her shoulder as she strokes his hair. “Barry and I… we looked for _weeks_ , maybe months, I don’t know. We looked for you everywhere, but you were just _gone_ , and then… then I couldn’t remember and I was so _alone._  I felt empty, Lu, there was something missing, and nothing I ever did helped…. Then… then we inoculated ourselves, and everything was so much worse. I remembered you, but you were _gone_  and all I had was that _fucking_  umbrella.” His hands are trembling now, and tremors wrack his body. 

“I know, Taako, and I’m so _fucking_  sorry. But I’m back now, and we’re alive.”

He bites back a sob and clutches his sister tightly.

“I– I know, and it’s s-stupid. I thought I lost you, and now… Lu, we’re going to _lose them.”_

 _“_ That’s life, babe,” she whispers. “We live, we get old, we die. Well, _y’all_ fools will, I’m stayin’ young ‘n’ gorgeous forever.” He chokes out a laugh at that and smiles. “I know what you mean, Taako, but… that’s the natural way of things. What happened to us, what we went through… that wasn’t natural, and it wasn’t fair, but it’s what happened. I know it’s hard, and it’s gonna suck some major dick, but, Taako…. I’m here. Barry’s here. You have Kravitz, and Magnus, and Merle and Dave… and Lucretia. I know, I know,” she says as he tries to interrupt, “but… she loves us, Taako, she loves _you._  She made mistakes, and it’s going to be hard to look past that, but that’s not the point here. The point is, you have us, Taako, and no matter what happens, you’re _never_  going to be alone again.”

“… I know….

The waves crash over their legs as they lay in the sand, and it’s soothing, the water cool, the sand soft, the night breeze blowing softly as the light from the bonfire glows in the distance.

Over the centuries, a lot of things change. 

The beach is one of them, but that’s life.

You’re meant to grow, and change, and eventually die, and they do. They grow, they change, and, eventually, they die. Kravitz, Barry and Lup are there for each and every one. Taako is the last of them to go, and he has watched as the legacies of his friends, his _family_ , live on, growing, evolving….

Changing….

The beach is never the same, but hey.

That’s life.


End file.
